The keyboardist David Gilmour called better than Richard Wright: “I encouraged them both”
It’s never easy trying to replace someone in a band like Pink Floyd. They may not have been one of the most complex prog bands in existence, but every one of them seemed irreplaceable when looking through their catalogue of classics. While they were bound to be a very different band once David Gilmour took the reins following Roger Waters’ departure, he felt that Richard Wright was being given a run for his money once this keyboardist entered the fold.
When looking at the biggest names in the group, though, Wright tends to get shafted far too often. Aside from the fact that he was fired from the band during the making of The Wall, Wright’s work gave the band their trademark weirdness, whether that was the first ‘ping’ sound found on ‘Echoes’ or bringing a jazzy texture to the best parts of Dark Side of the Moon like on ‘Breathe’ or ‘Us and Them’.
And even when he was hanging in the background, some of his subtle touches were perfect for what the song needed. Those endlessly droning chords on Animals give each song a certain foreboding atmosphere in the background, and when listening to both parts of ‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond’, listening to him incorporate the melody of ‘See Emily Play’ as one final tribute to Syd Barrett is absolutely beautiful.
When approaching A Momentary Lapse of Reason, though, Wright was effectively out of the group. While Gilmour didn’t want him to leave at the moment, he still couldn’t be considered a full member of the band on paper, leading to a lot of songs that sounded closer to a David Gilmour solo album, which checks out since Nick Mason barely appeared on the album, either.
The guitarist still had a record to sell, though, and listening back to how Jon Carin played, he knew he had found the Floydian substitute. He may not have had the same background that Wright did, but looking at his performances during the Delicate Sound of Thunder tour, there were still faint whiffs of what the band sounded like when every member was firing on all cylinders, especially with bassist Guy Pratt playing circles around what Roger Waters could do.
Though Carin would diplomatically step aside when Wright came back, Gilmour said that his replacement might actually be better than him in some respects, saying, “At the beginning of the Momentary Lapse Of Reason tour, Gary Wallis was playing all the drums because Nick couldn’t, and I got Jon Carin to play the keyboards, because he can do Rick Wright better than Rick Wright can. But then I encouraged them both, and by the end of the first three-month leg, Nick and Rick were playing great.”
As much as Carin lifted up the band during that period, it’s hard not to look at this version of Pink Floyd and feel a touch underwhelmed. Everyone was still working fine, but when comparing this version of the group to the one that eventually helmed The Division Bell, it’s like night and day.
By the time Wright entered the fold, their jams in the studio were the closest the band came to capturing the inventive conceptual pieces that they made during Waters’s stint in the group. And while we will never be able to hear any new Wright material again, anyone seeing Gilmour can breathe a sigh of relief whenever they see Carin behind the keyboard.
